1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a print/copy control system which is arranged to promote use of print/copy conditions of non-standard functions of an image forming device when starting execution of a printing or copying process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the existing office environment, if a print job of a document from a client computer, such as a PC (personal computer), is input to an image forming device, such as an MFP (multi-function peripheral), a printing process is performed by the image forming device according to the input print job. Or, if a user brings a document to the installation site of an image forming device and inputs a copy job to the image forming device, a copying process is performed by the image forming device according to the input copy job.
Usually, when one of a plurality of sets of print/copy conditions of the image forming device is selectable, a standard set of print/copy conditions (default set) is preferentially displayed in a printing dialog box of the client computer or an operation panel of the image forming device. If execution of the printing/copying process is requested without changing the contents of the standard set, the printing or copying process is immediately performed using the standard set of print/copy conditions.
There are several sets of print/copy conditions with respect to non-standard functions of the image forming device which are not included in the standard set of the print/copy conditions, such as duplex, collective mode, finishing, etc., and some users are unaccustomed to the non-standard functions of the image forming device. Hence, in many cases, the printing/copying process is performed by using the standard set of the print/copy conditions.
For example, even if the use of the non-standard function of duplex or collective mode will result in the saving of the number of sheets, the amount of toner or the amount of electric power, which can ultimately reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, the user is not positively urged to select the non-standard function.
On the other hand, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-310029 discloses a method of a print control for facilitating the setting of print conditions. In this print control method, the user is urged to select one of several printing categories, including “ecology”, “bookbinding”, “security” and “simple”, the print setting items related to the selected printing category are extracted, and the excerpt of the print setting items is merely displayed. Hence, the user is requested to select final print setting items from the excerpt of the print setting items displayed, and this does not provide a sufficient support for the user who is unaccustomed to the non-standard functions.